The two-way trade between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan reached US$68.65 billion in the first eight months of this year, up nearly 22 percent from a year earlier, statistics show.

 

More than 70,000 Taiwan-funded projects had been approved on the mainland during the period, and the actual amount of investment reported over US$43 billion, said Tang Wei, an official with the Commerce Ministry who is in charge of trade affairs between the mainland and Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

 

He made the remarks at an expo on economic and technological cooperation across the Taiwan Straits, which opened on Saturday in Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan Province.

 

"The Chinese mainland has become the largest export market and the largest source of favorable balance of trade for Taiwan," Ye Kedong, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, told the expo.

 

By the end of last June, Taiwan enjoyed US$363.4 billion of favorable balance of trade with the mainland.

 

The expo was attended by senior lawmaker He Luli and senior political advisor Zhang Meiying from the mainland and Chiang Pin-kung, vice-chairman of Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party from Taiwan.

 

The three-day event also attracted about 120 businesses, including 70 from Taiwan.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2006)